Trash ejector



July 14,- 1953 R. s. CURLEY EIAL 2,644,987

' TRASH EJECTOR Filed June 5, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 mum"W & i

'Q &

V 66 2. ROBERT {5935 BY EfllL R. PIC b71950 Patented July 14, 1953' TRASH EJECTOR Robert s. Curley, Biddeford, and Earl R. Richardson, 'Saco, Maine, assignors to Saco-Lowell Shops, Boston, Mass, a corporation of Maine Application June 5, 1950, Serial No. 166,204

This invention relates to fiber preparation machinery and more specifically to a cotton fiber preparation machine for ejecting trash such as leaf, shale, seed, and other foreign matter from a mass of cotton fibers.

Since the advent of mechanical cottonpickers, the cotton reaching the mills has becomemore and more contaminated with trash which is very difficul to separate from the cotton fiber. In addition to the usual leaf, shale and the like, a great deal of such trash presently includes seed coatings which still have cotton fiber attached to them. Such adhesive matter is not removed by the usual cotton opening and cleaning machinery and will not drop out even in carding, hence bits of such material are likely to be spun. into the mass of cotton fibers and produce aninferior yarn or thread.

By the present invention, a machinehas been provided which removes a very high percentage of the trash found in most cottons of today, and in particular, for the first time in the art, also removes a large percentage of adhesive trash such as seed coatings which still haveootton fiber attached to them, The laps obtained from cotton which first has been passed through the trash ejector of our invention are much cleaner than those made from cotton fiber cleaned in the conventional manner, sincea great deal of the adhesive trash, which has formerly been difficult or impossible to separate, as well as the lighter trash, such as leaf, has been removed. A feature of the trash ejector of our invention I is that it shows no tendency to string or curl the cotton fiber which passes through it, and thus the cotton fiber is ready for a picking operation without further opening. p k 'j 2 Further advantages of our invention will appearin the following description of apreferred embodiment of our invention when taken in con nection with the accompanying drawings; in

, which:

Fig. 1 is a side cross-sectional elevational View,

somewhat diagrammatic, of the trash ejector of.

chamber 2 are provided with vent holes 4, the

purpose of which is to; keep the interior of the "1 Claim. (01. 19-93) chamber 2 at atmospheric pressure and'to mini, mize, as far as possible, any air currents'therein. A plurality of beaters generally indicated at 6, I; 8, 9 are mounted on shafts 12 in bearings t3. on the sides of said chamber 2, said beaters being arranged in vertical relationship, asshown one overthe other, for rotation about substantially parallel horizontal axes, said axesbeing in substantially the same plane. Though we have found that a vertical row of four beaters are desirable for efiectively ejecting trash from inost classes of cotton fiber, it is to be understood that a greater or lesser number may be used in oer-1 tain circumstances, if desired.

In addition to the combination and arrangement of the beaters generally-we have provided a novel beater element which effectively ejects heavy and adhesive trash from the cotton'fiber without setting up air currents which would. carry the lighter trash along with the cotton adjacent beater blades l8 are mounted on said The beaters 6, 1, 8 and 9 are all similar and include, carried on beater shaft 12,. a number of internal bracing members It and beaterblades l8 of sheet steel or the like, the beater blades I8 extending both radially and longitudinally of the beater structure. We prefer to use. six blades l8. mounted on a corresponding number of flat surfaces on bracing members l4 and to space said blades 18 at equal distances from one another, thougha difierent number of blades may be used,

Filling-in members 20 of sheetmetal or thelike extending for the length of the beater between blades to provide a central bodyportion of generally prismatic form with beater blades extending outwardly therefrom, the trailingedge of the filling-inmember 2.6,i. e., the edge away from the direction of rotation of the beater, being mounted on the blade I 8 at a point of'a greater radial distance from the axis of the beater. than the edge mounted on an adjacent blade l8 toward the direction of rotation of the beater. The

filling-in members '26fthus form' longitudinally extending channels between theblades l8, the depth of said channels at the edge toward the direction of rotation of the; beater being greater than the depth ofthe edge of the channel away from the direction of rotation of the beater. Disks 22 of substantially the same diameter as that of the path of travel of the beater blades 18 are preferably mounted on each end of the beater,

said disks 22 serving as end members for thethe blades l8 and filling jn" channels formed by members 20.

jacent the path of travel of the beater blades l8 for a part of the circumferential distance around the path of travel of the blades of each beater on opposite sides thereof, and for such angular distance the grid bars 24 are preferably mounted on a radius about the axis of the beater; It is desirable that such angular distance be at least and preferably to 60 of said circumferential distance. The curved sections of the grid are connected with straight sections of grid bars 24 to provide both an increased grid surface, and a clear passage for the cotton fibers from one beater to the next. The grid bars 24 in such straight sections may be mounted in a generally horizontal position. Defiecting plates 30- may be mounted on the sides of beater chamber 2' extending along and closely adjacent to the straight sections of the grid bars 24 on the opposite sides thereof from the beaters, said defleeting, plates 30' being mounted at an angle extending downwardly from said grid, and serving to deflect trash away from the grid, and particularly the curved sections thereof. The vent holes 4 in the sides of beater chamber 2 are preferably' arranged immediately beneath said deflecting: plates 30, thus further reducing the movement of air within the beater chamber 2.

Baflies 32 which may comprise a pair of side plates and top and bottom plates mounted on and extendin between the sides of beater chamber 2 are provided between the heaters 6 and I, I and 8", and 8 and 9, closely adjacent the path of travel of the beater blades i8. Such baffles 32 serve to prevent movement of cotton fiber from one side of the heaters to the other except by the desired path, as hereinafter more fully explained. A plate 31 forms a somewhat similar baffle above the uppermost beater 6, said plate being mounted on the top of chamber 2.

The upper three beaters 6, 1 and 3 are provided with driving pulleys 40 mounted on beater shafts l2, the beater 1 being provided with a pair of pulleys 40. The pulleys 40 are suitably interconnected as by bolts 42, so that all the heaters will be driven in the same direction of rotation. The lowest two beaters 8 and 9' are further provided with pulleys 44 on beater shafts l2, said pulleys 44 being connected by a single belt 46 to-pulley 50 on the main driving shaft 4B. The main driving shaft may be driven, for example, by a motor 52.

The trash ejecting machine of our invention maybe provided with a fiber feed mechanism of a well-known type as shown, consisting of a trunk-I0 for conveying cotton fiber by pneumatic means, said trunk discharging into an enclosed condenser chamber 12 mounted on the top of the beater chamber. The condenser chamber is provided with a perforated or screened condenser cylinder 14-, mounted on a shaft for rotation insuitable bearings on condenser chamber 12, said condenser cylinder "serving to collect the cotton fiber on its surface as the air conveying said cotton isdrawn by the usual fan or the like; (not shown) through the perforations in said cylinder. A dofier mounted on a shaft rotatably mounted in suitable bearings on condenser chamber 12, and having a number of leather-tipped blades is closely adjacent the surface of the condenser cylinder 14 so that the leather tips of said doffer blades will strike the cotton fiber held on said cylinder 14 as the cylinder is rotated and discharge the fiber through the trunk 88 into beater chamber 2 to the downstroke side of top beater 6. The dofier 80 and the condenser cylinder 14 are provided with any suitable driving: means, not shown.

A discharge trunk 18 is provided in the top of beater chamber 2 adjacent the upstroke side of top heater 6, a pneumatic conveyor trunk 84 being provided to'convey the fiber from the trash ejector in a well-known manner.

A conveyor may be mounted at the bottom of beater chamber 2 preferably extending through apertures 60 in the ends thereof to carry away the trash as it is ejected from the cotton fiber, said conveyor including an endless apron 64 around apron rollers 65', said rollers being mounted in suitable bearings on the outside surfaces of the ends of said chamber 2 adjacent apertures 60. One of said rollers 66 is provided with a pulley 92, said pulley being driven by belt 94 and pulley on main driving shaft 48.

In operation, the cotton fiber is delivered by condenser cylinder 14 and doffer 80' through trunk 88 a'nd falls downwardly to the first beater 6 on the downstroke side of said beater. The first beater 6 throws the cotton fiber against the first curved section of the grid bars 24 and then downwardly along the straight section of the grid bars and the baiile 32 to the second beater 7. The second beater, traveling in the same direction as the first beater, receives and throws the cotton fiber against the connecting and second curved section of the grid bars. The heaters thus pass the cotton fiber downward from one another, each beater in turn directing the cotton fibers against a curved section of the grid bars which permits the trash to pass through but retains the cotton fiber. The lower beater 9 passes the cotton fiber around its bottom surface and starts the'cotton fiber upward. The cotton fiber then passes upward for the full height of the beater chamber, being directed alternately against the grid bars to eject the trash contained therein and then to the next beater, until it passes through discharge trunk '18 in top of the beater chamber into the pneumatic conveyor trunk 84. Consequently, each beater acts-twice on the cotton fiber as it passes through the trash-ejecting machine.

Although we prefer to feed and discharge the cotton fiber at thetop of the beater chamber, it will be'apparent to those skilled inthe art that the advantages of the trash ejector of our invention may be realized if the machine is fed and discharged at the bottom of the beater chamber. Similarly, the machine could be adapted to operate in a horizontal or inclined position. if desired.

Thus we have provided a machine for ejecting trash from a mass of cotton fibers which has an extremely large'area of grid surface and in which each: beater acts twice on the cotton fiber passing through the machine. The increased: action provided by our novel trash ejector results in the rapid: removal of a large proportion of the adhesive trash, such as seed coatings with cotton fiber still attached to them, which has formerly been difficult or impossible to remove, while the novel construction of the 5 beaters themselves and the vents in the enclosed beater chamber prevent the creation of air currents which would prevent the finer and lighter trash, such as leaf, from being ejected from the mass of cotton fiber. The dual function of our trash ejector provides a single machine, for the first time in the art, which is capable of effectively accomplishing a very substantial portion of the cleaning necessary in the preparation of cotton fiber to be made into a lap.

Though we have described and shown a preferred embodiment of our invention, we wish it.

to be understood that our invention is to be limited only by the scope of the appended claim.

We claim:

A machine for ejecting trash from a mass of cotton fiber comprising a rotatably mounted beater having a plurality of longitudinally extended blades and filling-in members extending between said blades forming an enclosed central body portion of generally prismatic form with said beater blades extending outwardly therefrom, forming channels between said blades, the depth of said channels toward the direction of rotation of said beater being greater than the depth of said channels away from the direction of rotation, a disk of a diameter substantially equal to that of the path of travel of said blades mounted on each end of said beater, and agrid closely adjacent the path of travel of said blades for a part of the circumferential distance around said beater.

ROBERT S. CURLEY. EARL R. RICHARDSON.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

